groff_me(7) — Linux manual page

Name | Synopsis | Description | Files | Notes | See also | COLOPHON

groff_me(7)         Miscellaneous Information Manual         groff_me(7)

Name         top

       groff_me - “me” macro package for formatting roff documents

Synopsis         top

       groff -me [option ...] [file ...]

       groff -m me [option ...] [file ...]

Description         top

       The GNU implementation of the me macro package is part of the
       groff document formatting system.  The me package of macro
       definitions for the roff language provides a convenient facility
       for preparing technical papers in various formats.  This version
       is based on the me distributed with 4.4BSD and can be used with
       the GNU troff formatter as well as those descended from AT&T
       troff.

       Some formatter requests affect page layout unpredictably when
       used in conjunction with this package; however, the following may
       be used with impunity after the first call to a paragraphing
       macro like lp or pp.  Some arguments are optional; see groff(7)
       for details, particularly of requests whose argument list is
       designated with an ellipsis.  An asterisk * marks groff
       extensions.

       ad c       set text adjustment mode to c
       af r f     assign format f to register r
       am m e     append to macro m until e called
       as s t     append rest of line t to string s
       bp n       begin new page numbered n
       br         break output line
       ce n       center next n productive input lines
       cp n       en-/disable AT&T troff compatibility mode*
       de m e     define macro m until e called
       do t       interpret input t with compatibility mode off*
       ds s t     define rest of line t as string s
       el t       interpret t if corresponding ie false
       fc c d     set field delimiter c and padding glyph d
       fi         enable filling
       hc c       set hyphenation character to c
       hy m       set automatic hyphenation mode to m
       ie p t     as if, but enable interpretation of later el
       if p t     if condition p, interpret rest of line t
       in h       set indentation to distance h
       lc c       set leader repetition glyph to c
       ls n       set line spacing to n
       mc c h     set (right) margin glyph to c at distance h
       mk r       mark vertical position in register r
       na         disable adjustment of text
       ne v       need vertical space of distance v
       nf         disable filling
       nh         disable automatic hyphenation
       nr r n i   assign register r value n with auto-increment i
       ns         begin no-space mode
       pl v       set page length to v
       pn n       set next page number to n
       po h       set page offset to h
       rj n       right-align next n productive input lines*
       rm m       remove macro, string, or request m
       rn m n     rename macro, string, or request m to n
       rr r       remove register r
       rs         resume spacing (end no-space mode)
       rt v       return to vertical position set by mk, or v
       so f       source (interpolate) input file f
       sp n       insert n lines of vertical space
       ta ...     set tab stops
       tc c       set tab repetition glyph to c
       ti h       set temporary indentation (next line only) to h
       tl ...     output three-part title
       tr ...     translate characters
       ul n       underline next n productive input lines

       Except on title pages (produced by calling tp), me suppresses the
       output of vertical space at the tops of pages (after the output
       of any page header); the sp request will thus not work there.
       You can instead call bl or enclose the desired spacing request in
       a diversion, for instance by calling (b and )b.  me also
       intercepts the ll request; see the “me Reference Manual” for
       details.

   Name space
       Objects in me follow a rigid naming convention.  To avoid
       conflict, any user-defined register, string, or macro names
       should be single numerals or uppercase letters, or any longer
       sequence of letters and numerals with at least one uppercase
       letter.  (For portability between BSD and groff me, limit names
       to two characters, and avoid the name [ (left square bracket).)
       The names employed by any preprocessors in use should also not be
       repurposed.

   Macros
       $0   post-section heading hook
       $1   pre-section depth 1 hook
       $2   pre-section depth 2 hook
       $3   pre-section depth 3 hook
       $4   pre-section depth 4 hook
       $5   pre-section depth 5 hook
       $6   pre-section depth 6 hook
       $C   post-chapter title hook
       $H   page/column heading hook
       $c   output chapter number and title
       $f   output footer
       $h   output header
       $p   output section heading
       $s   output footnote area separator
       (b   begin block
       (c   begin centered block
       (d   begin delayed text
       (f   begin footnote
       (l   begin list
       (q   begin long quotation
       (x   begin index entry
       (z   begin floating keep
       )b   end block
       )c   end centered block
       )d   end delayed text
       )f   end footnote
       )l   end list
       )q   end long quotation
       )x   end index entry
       )z   end floating keep
       ++   set document segment type
       +c   begin chapter
       1c   end multi-column layout
       2c   begin multi-column layout
       EN   end eqn equation
       EQ   begin eqn equation
       GE   end grn picture with drawing position at bottom
       GF   end grn picture with drawing position at top
       GS   start grn picture
       IE   end ideal picture with drawing position at bottom
       IF   end ideal picture with drawing position at top
       IS   start ideal picture
       PE   end pic picture with drawing position at bottom
       PF   end pic picture with drawing position at top
       PS   start pic picture
       TE   end tbl table
       TH   end heading for multi-page tbl table
       TS   start tbl table
       b    embolden argument
       ba   set base indentation
       bc   begin new column
       bi   embolden and italicize argument
       bx   box argument
       ef   set even-numbered page footer
       eh   set even-numbered page header
       ep   end page
       fo   set footer
       he   set header
       hl   draw horizontal line
       hx   suppress next page's headers/footers
       i    italicize argument
       ip   begin indented paragraph
       ld   reset localization and date registers and strings*
       ll   set line length
       lp   begin fully left-aligned paragraph
       np   begin numbered paragraph
       of   set odd-numbered page footer
       oh   set odd-numbered page header
       pd   output delayed text
       pp   begin first-line indented paragraph
       q    quote argument
       r    set argument in roman
       re   reset tab stops
       sh   begin numbered section
       sm   set argument at smaller type size
       sx   change section depth
       sz   set type size and vertical spacing
       tp   begin title page
       u    underline argument
       uh   begin unnumbered section
       xl   set line length (local)
       xp   output index

       Some macros are provided for “old” roff(1) compatibility.  The
       “me Reference Manual” describes alternatives for modern
       documents.

       ar   use Arabic numerals for page numbers
       bl   insert space (even at page top; cf. sp)
       ix   set indentation without break
       m1   set page top to header distance
       m2   set header to text distance
       m3   set text to footer distance
       m4   set footer to page bottom distance
       n1   begin output line numbering
       n2   end or alter output line numbering
       pa   begin page
       ro   use Roman numerals for page numbers
       sk   skip next page

   Registers
       $0   section depth
       $1   first section number component
       $2   second section number component
       $3   third section number component
       $4   fourth section number component
       $5   fifth section number component
       $6   sixth section number component
       $c   current column number
       $d   delayed text number
       $f   footnote number
       $i   paragraph base indentation
       $l   column width
       $m   number of available columns
       $p   numbered paragraph number
       $s   column spacing (indentation)
       bi   display (block) indentation
       bm   distance from text area to page bottom
       bs   display (block) pre/post space
       bt   block threshold for keeps
       ch   current chapter number
       df   display font
       dv   vertical spacing of displayed text (as percentage)*
       es   equation pre/post space
       ff   footnote font
       fi   footnote indentation (first line only)
       fm   footer margin
       fp   footnote type size in points
       fs   footnote prespace
       fu   footnote undent (right indentation)
       hm   header margin
       ii   indented paragraph indentation
       no   line numbering offset*
       pf   paragraph font
       pi   paragraph indentation
       po   page offset
       pp   paragraph type size in points
       ps   paragraph prespace
       qi   long quotation left/right indentation
       qp   long quotation type size in points
       qs   long quotation pre/post space
       sf   section title font
       si   section indentation per level of depth
       so   additional section title offset
       sp   section title type size in points
       ss   section prespace
       sx   super/subscript line height increase*
       tf   title font
       tm   distance from page top to text area
       tp   title type size in points
       tv   vertical spacing of text (as percentage)*
       xs   index entry prespace
       xu   index undent (right indentation)
       y2   year of the century*
       y4   year*
       yr   year minus 1900
       zs   floating keep pre/post space

   Strings
       #    delayed text marker
       $n   concatenated section number
       *    footnote marker
       -    em dash
       <    begin subscripting
       >    end subscripting
       dw   weekday name
       lq   left double quotation mark
       mo   month name
       rq   right double quotation mark
       td   date
       wa   term for “appendix” used by .$c*
       wc   term for “chapter” used by .$c*
       {    begin superscripting
       }    end superscripting

Files         top

       /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/e.tmac
              implements the package.

       /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/refer-me.tmac
              implements refer(1) support for me.

       /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/me.tmac
              is a wrapper enabling the package to be loaded with the
              option “-m me”.

Notes         top

       Early roff macro packages often limited their names to a single
       letter, which followed the formatter's m flag letter, resulting
       in mm, ms, mv, mn, and so on.  The “e” in “me” stands for “Eric
       P. Allman”, who wrote the macro package and the original
       technical papers documenting it while an undergraduate at the
       University of California.

See also         top

       Two manuals are available in source and rendered form.  On your
       system, they may be compressed and/or available in additional
       formats.

       /usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0/meintro.me
       /usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0/meintro.ps
              is “Writing Papers with Groff Using -me”, by Eric P.
              Allman, adapted for groff by James Clark.

       /usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0/meref.me
       /usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0/meref.ps
              is the “me Reference Manual”, by Eric P. Allman, adapted
              for groff by James Clark and G. Branden Robinson.

       Groff: The GNU Implementation of troff, by Trent A. Fisher and
       Werner Lemberg, is the primary groff manual.  You can browse it
       interactively with “info groff”.

       For preprocessors supported by me, see eqn(1), grn(1), pic(1),
       refer(1), and tbl(1).

       groff(1), troff(1), groff(7)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the groff (GNU troff) project.  Information
       about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩.  If you have a bug report
       for this manual page, see ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/groff.git⟩ on 2024-06-14.  (At
       that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
       the repository was 2024-06-10.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       [email protected]

groff 1.23.0.1273-9d53-dirty   6 June 2024                   groff_me(7)